I acknowledge there is no loop in your code and that the issue apparently existed with WWF9 too...
...I suspect something is being asked of IIS and is failing to complete properly the first time yet works in a split second on the subsequent attempt.
Lets not forget something very similar also happened when I simply tried to do licensing...is that a clue?
To help, I am noticing nothing in the event log. There is little network involved as the browser, iis and sql server are on the same box. I don't know the components you mentioned...but you probably mean IIS web server not IE browser as this happens with both Opera and IE browsers.
Strange...if I get any more clues I'll post...